Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) Stock Price Up 2.9% – Should You Buy?

Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) rose 2.9% on Friday . The company traded as high as $159.55 and last traded at $159.32. Approximately 9,870,730 shares traded hands during trading, an increase of 40% from the average daily volume of 7,061,226 shares. The stock had previously closed at $154.77.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

PANW has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. UBS Group set a $215.00 target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 13th. Cantor Fitzgerald reaffirmed an “overweight” rating on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research report on Monday, November 24th. Sanford C. Bernstein increased their target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $207.00 to $210.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 20th. HSBC downgraded shares of Palo Alto Networks from a “hold” rating to a “reduce” rating and set a $157.00 target price for the company. in a research note on Thursday, November 20th. Finally, Bank of America upped their price target on Palo Alto Networks from $215.00 to $240.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, October 20th. Thirty-one investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, seven have assigned a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Palo Alto Networks has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $229.09.

Palo Alto Networks Stock Performance

The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $185.67 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $193.79. The firm has a market cap of $111.05 billion, a PE ratio of 100.84, a P/E/G ratio of 3.98 and a beta of 0.75.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, November 20th. The network technology company reported $0.93 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.89 by $0.04. Palo Alto Networks had a net margin of 11.69% and a return on equity of 17.05%. The firm had revenue of $2.47 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.46 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $1.56 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up 15.7% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts predict that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 1.76 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Transactions at Palo Alto Networks

In related news, EVP Lee Klarich sold 120,774 shares of Palo Alto Networks stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, December 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $191.91, for a total transaction of $23,177,738.34. Following the transaction, the executive vice president owned 327,645 shares in the company, valued at approximately $62,878,351.95. This trade represents a 26.93% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, EVP Dipak Golechha sold 5,000 shares of Palo Alto Networks stock in a transaction on Tuesday, December 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $188.18, for a total value of $940,900.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president owned 155,119 shares in the company, valued at approximately $29,190,293.42. This represents a 3.12% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders sold a total of 260,542 shares of company stock valued at $49,910,995 in the last 90 days. 1.40% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Palo Alto Networks

Several large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. New Millennium Group LLC lifted its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 3.4% during the fourth quarter. New Millennium Group LLC now owns 11,251 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $2,072,000 after purchasing an additional 368 shares in the last quarter. Advisory Alpha LLC increased its stake in Palo Alto Networks by 25.9% during the 4th quarter. Advisory Alpha LLC now owns 5,436 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $1,001,000 after buying an additional 1,120 shares during the period. Evoke Wealth LLC lifted its holdings in Palo Alto Networks by 17.0% during the 4th quarter. Evoke Wealth LLC now owns 9,461 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $1,743,000 after buying an additional 1,376 shares in the last quarter. SGL Investment Advisors Inc. grew its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 2.6% in the fourth quarter. SGL Investment Advisors Inc. now owns 24,909 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $4,588,000 after acquiring an additional 638 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Keudell Morrison Wealth Management purchased a new stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks during the fourth quarter worth $451,000. 79.82% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

About Palo Alto Networks

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ: PANW) is a cybersecurity company founded in 2005 and headquartered in Santa Clara, California. The firm develops a broad suite of security products and services designed to prevent successful cyberattacks and protect enterprise networks, clouds, and endpoints. Built around a platform strategy, its offerings target threat prevention, detection, response and governance across hybrid and multi-cloud environments.

The company’s product portfolio includes next‑generation firewalls as a core on‑premises capability, alongside cloud‑delivered security services and software for securing public and private clouds.